Chile by Bicycle

It's a small world we often say but an almost insurmountable huge one when travelling on a bicycle.

Every day is like a week,
Every week is like a month,
Every bend on the road is a new adventure,
Every Town is a new life.
Time gets an extension so much so far,
For forty dollars a day for two,
It is worth more than a cruise of four thousand for the few.
The world becomes so huge again,
Therefore a lifetime is gained,
Over and over again.

Chile is chilly and hilly is what we were saying to ourselves when we first arrived in the south. Although the very south is beautiful and lush it is also much cooler of course. This is not the kind of temperature we like, or are used to, so we were glad we took the route we did. In fact to get to the bottom there are no roads so a ferry for four nights and three days from Puerto Montt to Puerto Arena is $450 USD each plus $80USD for a bicycle one way. Not a fee we like.

The Chilean people have been very nice, generous and friendly and as such we have made many friends. It was fantastic to have arranged to stay with Michael and Natalia for five days in Osorno because we had so much rain for the few days prior and they made us feel at home. They showed us around the markets where we have never seen such beautiful large and juicy vegetables and fruit in all our travels and it was so inexpensive, yes, as little as India.
They took us by local bus 80kms to Natalia's parents' beach house on the coast funny enough, west of Osorno, for a lovely weekend. (See photos below)

After five days in comfort we headed off again. It was a miserable day weather wise and never much fun winding our way out of a fairly large town and onto a hilly Highway which would be our only choice of a road until we arrive in Santiago 950kms north of Osorno. (It was 337kms from Bariloche in Argentina to Osorno, over the Andes)

Chile is actually shaped like a chilli but it is not the reason for its name. There are many theories as to how it got its name but one is, it means "The end of the earth" The main highway is two lanes each way and has a good size shoulder although littered with debris of all sorts especially blown truck tyres with thin steel threads making it easy to get a puncture of which we had a few. So the main highway Ruta 5 is the trunk of the tree which has many branches both sides that more often than not turn to gravel. Ruta 5 follows the lowlands where it can more often than not be reasonably flat but as the country as a whole is extremely hilly and of course with the Andes mountains on the eastern side, then when there were hills they were real beauties. There is no shortage of rivers as the water runs down from the Andes so hence the fertile land suitable for just about everything from sheep and dairy farming to strawberries and so on, in the south, to vineyards and tropical fruits in the north.

There are many parallels with Argentina and of course a condition of many cities around the world where the centres are nicely taken care of whilst the further from the centre the more the streets are badly maintained and the state, in the case of Chile, have many state housing projects with little wooden houses all the same in fairly cramped conditions, presumably for the less well off of the population.

We do not find the food very exciting and like Argentina, lacking in range and opportunities to make ones' self a decent meal. It is different for those with a fridge and freezer and a place to keep all their spices and the like, I guess, but for us it looks like a land of Hot Dogs (Completos and Italianos) $1000 CLP, Hamburgers (Hamburgeuses), $2300 CLP and chips (Papa Fritas) 800 CLP. It also has the bizarre pricing where (£1 = $712 CLP) a 2.5L Coca Cola is $1800 CLP but a 1L of local Rum (Ron) can be around $2100 CLP with cigarettes being from $1400 CLP to $2400, 6 eggs in a carton are $560, 1L UHT milk is $560 but a whole hot cooked chicken is $3500 from a supermarket. Local markets and shops are much cheaper than supermarkets for eggs, fruit and vegetables but not everything is priced so it is difficult for us to buy things as also there are no price controls for anything so it is easy to be ripped off and yes we have been, on accommodation, restaurants and the like. It is the Chilean people who say to us to be very careful and always bargain especially in the cheap hotels we are forced to stay in. We have paid up to $20,000 CLP a night for a Hostal come Hotel and others $12,000s, some with ensuite and wifi and some without, and these are at the bottom of the market. There is no real norm. Overall and once again, it is cheaper to live than in Europe or the English speaking world but wages are still much lower but then again so are property prices and utilities. I have been told that the new Chile is one of credit and spending and everything is available to buy at a fair price. Electrical goods for example are half the price of Argentina so about the same as the UK (the USA is 25% cheaper than Europe) and credit is easy to get so the Chilean people are happier to have debt rather than nothing to buy. It's a strange world wherever one is, as we all seem to prefer the stresses of modern life in order to have the luxuries even though the pressure on our minds and bodies are much greater.

The traffic is once again a problem as I think it is and will be all over the world. The motorised vehicle reigns supreme so no more on that subject we hope.

It is yet another interesting country that feels a million miles from anywhere and yet so westernised. There is nothing you cannot get except what we need for our kit. The infrastructure is as good as Eastern Europe but there is alot of personal and government investment required to bring it up to the standards of say, West Germany and France. Santiago is very funky (much warmer than down south) however as are a lot of towns and cities we have stayed in on the way, there is a real Spanish influence unsurprisingly and there are many great looking buildings both old and new.
It is not the most amazing country we have travelled because it is not different enough unlike India, Morocco or Syria for example but then this is due to it being more like what we are used to as Westerners.

The high prices and the stray dogs are the reason we will not spend a full three months here. I was bitten by a stray dog whilst cycling on the outskirts of Santiago. Whilst most dogs just bark and chase us, this particular one was quiet and came up from behind and bit me in the right calf. It stung like hell for awhile and with the threat of rabies prevalent here as in most of South America, I went to the hospital and got a rabies booster shot but they said I need three more over the next twenty days so that is the best excuse for staying put in Santiago for awhile longer. Goodness knows how or where we go next as all options to get to Bolivia have the dreaded 2000kms in front of them let alone a road that goes over the Andes again but this time 4500 metres.

Our experiences on the road are always going to be so different than a back packer or tourist in the normal sense, therefore the opinions and comments are based purely on our observations and what people on the way have told us. Back packing is as close as you get to our way. We quote those who are on business or take the escorted bus tours of a country "The Hilton Tour of the World" where one merely flys in, gets collected from the airport, delivered to their hotel then next day get on a bus to somewhere perhaps lovely, get all the best food and lodgings and on to another day of the same, all in air conditioned comfort. That is all jolly good but those people will have a completely different experience. Not a very memorable, exciting, or dangerous one perhaps.

Description of the Photos are below.....